The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs 1949 chevy 1 ton deluxe Panel project.

This my year for really getting in gear on restoring my fathers old 1949 chevy deluxe panel.
starting point pic

The story of this truck goes way back. Back in the early 70's my hippy parents got the truck off some other hippies in New Mexico. At this point the truck had all ready been to Alaska and down to Mexico some where. My parents conceived me . Possibly in the truck. We then toured the country as a family in the truck. Eventually we settled down in upstate NY. After my father passed the truck sat for a long time. 30 years or so later the truck is finally ready as am I to restore this old beast.
I have much to update. I am at the shop today so I might not update till tonight.

Your parents probably crossed paths with Tim another fan of the "counter culture" and NY panel owner.

I am actually really lucky. Tim lives up the street from me.
Lots of pics n such today.

Seeing as that's how life started for you, you need to take your final ride in it as well. Panels work well for hauling pine boxes and getting both hatched and dispatched in the same truck sounds fitting.

Good luck with the truck.

Josh,

Call me if it is convenient for me to visit you/your-truck Wed/Thurs evening.

So I guess my account here has restrictions on posting images and links. I guess I'll show you guys what I'm up to soon.

You might be able to post now, Josh

I am ready for some photo links, for sure!
Maybe some of your folks using it back in the seventies!
That was my era.
In 1968 I had a '55.5 Chevy panel.

Josh,

You have as many different sheet metal colors as I had on my 1948 1/2 ton panel truck back in 1969.

I hope the freezing rain does not keep me from visiting you tonight.

So, sounds like Tim can see the pics, but the link doesn't show for me.

Well the roads were real bad here. Early night.
What I did tonight.
Now before you die hard keep it original guys go crazy. I'm doing this just to see. Because if I don't find a suitable replacement straight Six, my beautiful complete 455 buick will be going in.
So tonight I took my spare 455 block and dropped it in the truck. Nothing serious . Just eye balled it. It looks like a nice fit. Some steering modification is probably needed but might not.
I am really considering the swap.
Anyone got info on saginaw power steering modification?
Pic updates coming. Someone tell me how to post pics here ? Until then here is my album on tiny pic.
1949 panel restore pics

Good thing I am a member at the HAMB!
You have one huge project on your hands!
Keep us posted. Thanks!

You may have to be a member of the Jalopy Journal (H.A.M.B.) in order to view the photos. I did not know that I was a member - I do not remember being initiated.

It looks like you are doing a lot of metal work. I look forward to visiting your truck.

Do not worry about what other people think about what you want to do with your truck. Do what you like.

So a little about what I have done so far. New brakes. Lines , master , wheel cylinders didn't look bad but not sure.
Totally rebuilt front cab corners and new beefier cab mounts.
I cut into the extremely long bed and made the floor for the cab go back enough for the 3rd row seats to fold down into. Half suburban. I built new floor bracing . And seat mounts.
When I get to a pc and off a mobile device I might have better luck with links and pics.


A lot of people have said I'm crazy for trying to bring this thing back. I know it's a lot of work. Especially when you are doing everything your self. But this truck means do much to me. And just think about how much this truck has seen. I'm staying positive and just keep plucking away at it. Spring means electrolysis tank goes back up and main body gets sand blasted. Goal set.

I excited to keep track of this project.
Also, the driver's seat photo link worked.

Post a question about the 455 swap in the Hi-Po forum. It has been done.

So here are some picture links. Explanation above.
First up a shot after truck had been in the shop about a week. We had to clean the shop floor from all the crap that came off this thing.

front pic

side pic

rear RPO springs

Rear end

Brake work...
lines copper nickel coated. love this stuff.
In this shot you can see my beefy cab mount tacted into place. Along with new master cylinder from rock auto. 33$. Score!
master cylinder, cab mount
wheel cylinder rebuild or replace?
drum off


At some point durning brake work , I found my wire wheel for my grinder. I wanted to clean up my fittings and see what the metal really looked like. If I keep stock axles etc I'm thinking about clear coating the clean aged steel.
front spring shackle

pitman arm

drag lnk

front crossmember

lever shock.... i love this look

like 2 minutes on the frame. this frame is so clean.

New floor support/seat mounts. Note riser for simulation of transmission hump. My front seat set up is the rear seat from late model suburban. My rear seats are removable 3rd row from same truck. Donated from a friend. Gray leather matches original interior color.
floor/seat bracing

drivers seat 1

Passenger seat 1
drivers seat 2

passenger seat 2
passenger seat 3 rear access

Electrolysis tank ... first dip...
link
After part had been in for a couple hours...
link
24 hr dip...
link

link for 12v electrolysis video 1 ....
link 2 12v Electrolysis ....
Electrolysis 36v link 1 ....
Electrolysis 36v link 2 ....
Electrolysis 36v link 3 fender finished ....

Love to see the pictures, but I am not a member and they are not visible to me.

How about this ... link

Comes up blank too. Some of your earlier links at least got me to the jalopy site, these last two just gave me a white screen, nothing visible.

Josh,

Those links are only viewable to HAMB member. I got white screens in a browser that did not log me in to the HAMB.

I'll see if I can figure out how to obtain a publicly viewable link.

I cannot display the images as .jpegs

I can save them as .jpegs, but that means you would have to download each photo and then save it on a publicly viewable hosting service.

Dropbox Photos - Josh-Panel (I made an album and stored some photos)

Wow thanks. I used to have a photobucket account... I'll set it up tonight.
Long day at the shop today...
I have made up my mind . My 455 BBB is going in. Backing it with th400 . When I have more money to invest in the driveline I will buy the bell adapter to mate my sm420 to the 455.

It is cool you are doing this project.

Anyone know what vehicles I can source rear end gears from?
A lil side story on the truck. The reason for the different front and yellow fenders etc.. is because we had 2+ trucks when I was born. We had a school bus and parts of a 3100. The only parts left from school bus are the smoked glass and rear doors. Hood and front of my truck have been replaced with parts from 3100.
These parts took a good shot down the drivers side. Someone threw a lot of lead on this driver front. Looks like some stuff they didn't bother to bang or pull anything. The fenders cracked and creased. I hammered that fender back into shape, after dipping the fender. Some light weight fill for the pitted areas. Then a quick primer coat to seal it.
If you look at the front before pic, you will see how bad that fender looked. So my first time using electrolysis I decided to give it the biggest challenge I had for it. That fender came out of that tank clean. Like way clean. I wish I could build a drive in tank. Lol. A year later and no rust showing through. Fender set in place.
More body work and frame boxing this week until my th400 tranny comes back.
Grr photobucket is messing with me. Someone link me to a new hosting site please..

The more I work on this truck the more I love the design of this truck.
I always loved the look of the AD trucks. But now I understand how they built them and how easy they are to work on. Well relatively speaking. And the metal on these trucks is so forgiving.
Last night I got to a point where I couldn't do anything more with the fabrication until my tranny comes, so I decided to do some patches and some hammer and dolly work. Like I said before something went down the side of the truck. The front is banged out but the body still needed work.there is a crease just above rear fenders about 3' long.
Pic link
And a large dent behind the rear driver fender.
Pic link
I had to patch the inner-panel in that area , so before I patched, I banged that huge dent out. The memory on this old metal is awesome.

Got a tiny pic album.
link
I'll go back and add some pic links to previous posts.
changed to a dropbox album

Thanks for the pics!

video demo of passenger seat
455 big block buick 525hp
455 BBB 550 lb. trq
More body work tonight.... I'll get some pics of last nights work too.

Last night's body work.
Windshield has a lot of work needed. Here is the first piece I fabbed.
drivers windshield channel.
Here is a patch panel for just below the hood hinge mounts on driver side.
cowl hinge patch.

Here is the dent in the rear. Or what used to be a dent.
drivers side rear dent

Big Block and TH400 set in place and tunnel trimmed. I am working on finding something with a saginaw steering box.
With modified stock tranny cover

TH400

Mech speedo screwed right in

Spare block mated to 400 tranny set in place

Front of block

This is why I want the saginaw conversion.

A friend gave me an 8 lug GMC late model rim and tire out of a set he had laying around. They bolted right up... unfortunately the tie rod hits the wheel because these are 16" rims. if the offset was out a hair , I'd be great.

16" late model GMC 8 lug

No fit

Did I scare you guys

Pete, the weekend gets kind of slow. You know, got to take the little ladies out so we can continue Bolting Mon-Fri.

...... and besides, a lot of us are learning from you! Blaze the trail Pete so others can follow!

I guess it's a good time forma disclaimer... I am a moron... do not do this at home. I have no idea what I'm doing and should never fallow my advice.


I have an idea for the saginaw swap.
I have lever shocks. I love the way they look. All the power steering swaps I have seen use traditional shocks flipped towards the back side of the axle. I want to do the same with my lever shocks. Meaning flipping sides of the truck and changing direction the lever faces.

...sorry pete, I forgot for a moment you have a 49. Now I look like the moron

Your fine bro...
I took a day off from the truck and I'm still spending every moment I have looking for parts and making plans.
I wish it was nice out so I could run my electrolysis tank.

So I ran into some issues tonight.
It all started when I put the water pump/oil filter stuff on the front of the block. The motor would have to go down and into the firewall more. Well that ment cutting the firewall more... well my gas pedal had to be moved. Not a problem. Drilled the tack welds for the pedal hinge. I also realized brake pedal was in the way. My first thaught was to use the clutch pedal to push the brake. Gas pedal where the brake was. Good idea but the clutch pedal was in the way also. Well it's very close.
This build is getting crazy. My plan of keeping most of the truck original is sliding away. I'll edit with pics a lil later. I need a shower.
oil filter clearance. bottom left.
new tunnel cut.

pedal hinge drilled out

pedal set in brake pedal position

So I was talking to my mother and she says the spare school bus we had was some type of conversion. I guess it was a one ton panel conveted to suburban. They did not make 1 ton burbs right? All the other school busses I see are busses with AD front clips.
I'll see if I can dig up some of the old pics from New Mexico next time I visit my mother.

1tonpete I have a 49 burb that I put in 69 nova clip, 78 BB 454, TH400 in so it can be done. Since clip has disc brakes i used the mounting bracket that holds steering column , brake pedal mount , and extends thru front firewall to hold the brake diaphragm from the nova I Did have to reinforce firewall so it wouldn't flex when you apply brake pressure. This gets more room in the foot box area as brake pedal off floor and swings from mount above. For steering column I used a ididit column with borgeson coupling to squeeze around the headers. Not sure how you can do this with original column. Anyway you are putting 10 pounds of stuff in 5 pound box so good luck with the progress.

Thanks buddy. I appreciate the input. I was thinking pretty much what you said.
My plan is this...
I am looking for solid 4x4 front axle swap with saginaw. Something with front disc and I'll grab the firewall mounted brake stuff .
Cable to remounted original gas pedal. I'll grab the steering column also.
I'll probably fab pitman arm if I can't find right one.
I'm still thinking I want to keep lever shocks. So I will flip and mount to rear of front donor axle.
I want to fab a mechanical floor shift linkage but if i generate enough funds,I'll probably buy a lokar. Worst case I'll cable shift it.
Only questions left are stock rear axle or donor? And rear drive shaft staying and either cutting short shaft or buying a short custom shaft or finding/buying a new one piece.